Forest Hills Schools Rule at Forest Akers
June 8, 2019
By Tom Lang
Special for Second Half
EAST LANSING – Brad Smithson of Ada Forest Hills Eastern said he signed to play golf with Michigan State because it’s close to home and he likes the facilities.
Maybe now he loves the facilities.
Smithson just won the Division 2 Final at the home of MSU – Forest Akers West Golf Course – four strokes ahead of DeWitt senior Charlie DeLong, who is next headed to Grand Valley State.
“Hopefully this is a good start to a summer that rolls into the fall, once I get to State,” Smithson said. “Very special (to win here). This is where I’ll be playing golf, so it’s very cool that I was able to get it done here.”
Smithson and DeLong both shot 71 for the lowest scores in the first round Friday, but Smithson went one stroke better with a 70 (141 total) in the final to DeLong’s 74 (145) on Saturday. Andrew Kolar of team champion Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern, and Nick Krueger of Spring Lake, tied for third place at 150. Noah Kolar was one stroke off the lead Friday but closed with 79 for fifth place.
“I got a couple really good breaks I’d say; that kind of kept me in it,” Smithson said of the final round. “A lot of par saves through the back nine and really played pretty solid today, in the wind and pretty tough conditions.
“It was hard work, definitely. It was a grind throughout the day. (Friday) was a lot more rough. A lot more bad breaks. Actually, scored pretty well for how badly I hit it. But today I hit it a lot better, got the breaks I needed and was able to get it done.”
Smithson, playing with DeLong, said he knew he had the lead after the 15th hole by at least two strokes, maybe three.
“So, I hit iron on 16 (tee) and made a good par,” he said. “I tried to keep pushing, stay in my same game plan. I didn’t try to change anything.”
Yet he did close out the day with a long birdie that dropped in the cup on the 18th green when he simply was hoping to lag it close.
DeLong said the back nine was the difference maker.
“We were tied after nine holes, but I struggled off the tee and didn’t really get anything going on the back nine,” he said. “But second in the states isn’t too bad.”
Northern won the team championship despite shooting its worst 18-hole score of the season in the second round. With a 296 on Friday and a comfortable 13-stroke lead over DeWitt heading into Saturday, Northern shot 324 to finish at 620. Eastern shot 309 on Saturday and snuck ahead of the Panthers with a 628 total for runner-up honors, while DeWitt dropped to third place with 309-325-634.
Northern coach Brian Telzerow said the team’s previous worst score this year was an 11-stroke difference.
“This feels a lot sweeter just because last year we were right in the hunt and kind of gave it away at the end,” he said of the 2018 runner-up finish to Flint Powers Catholic. “This year we had a great first round, played really well (Friday), that set us up for today. We kind of expected to play better today, and that didn’t happen.
“Anytime you’re in a round like this, you’ve got to just gut it out. And these guys, I commend them for staying in the game – even after hitting balls out of bounds at times, hitting them in the hazards, and not giving up but just grinding through it. We were fortunate to have yesterday’s lead. That helped us hold onto it today.”
Telzerow said he prefers to have a lead after one round instead of trying to fire up the troops for a come-from-behind effort.
“After yesterday we felt good coming into today and thought we could pull it off,” he said about a team that returned four starters from last year. “Pin placements were a little more difficult … but it’s the state finals, it’s the second day … it’s supposed to be hard.”
PHOTOS: (Top) The top six finishers from this weekend’s Lower Peninsula Division 2 Final, including Forest Hills Eastern’s Brad Smithson (far right). (Middle) Forest Hills Northern’s Andrew Kolar chips onto the green. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
D2 Champs Follow 1st-Place Friday with Celebration Saturday
By
Tim Robinson
Special for MHSAA.com
June 12, 2021
BATTLE CREEK — Brockton English had dreamed for more than a year about winning the individual Lower Peninsula Division 2 golf championship, but he was far from confident going into this weekend’s tournament at Bedford Valley Golf Club.
“I played in a big invitational in Indiana earlier in the week, and I played really bad. Just really bad,” said the Pontiac Notre Dame Prep senior. “I knew the (Bedford Valley) course was going to be easier than what I played in Indiana, but, still, I was a little nervous.”
A fast start Friday, with five birdies in the first 10 holes, cured the nerves, and he carded identical rounds of five-under 67 to win the individual title by five strokes over Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice’s Lorenzo Pinili, who shot 68 on Saturday to finish at 139.
Pinili’s Brother Rice team won the team title, however, recording identical rounds of 290 to finish 18 strokes ahead of Flint Powers Catholic.
Warriors coaches Leon Braisted and David Sass, who co-coached the Bloomfield Hills Marian girls to the Division 3 title in the fall, became the first coaches to win Finals with boys and girls golf teams in the same school year.
“It’s a very good feeling,” Braisted said. “We’re tickled pink, and we’re going to let it soak in. It’s been a very productive school year.”
Brother Rice got off to a rough start on Saturday as the pressure of being the leader at the halfway point took its toll early.
“Part of that was nerves,” said senior Colin O’Rourke, who finished with a 74-70—144 score. “Around hole 4 or 5 our five guy settled in, and we started playing.”
The Warriors led by eight strokes over Flint Powers going into Saturday and added 10 strokes to that lead.
“That was pretty special,” O’Rourke said. “We caught a groove and never looked back.”
Pinili shot a 68 on Saturday after teammate Matt Baer had done so the day before.
“I was patient the whole day,” Pinili said. “I was giving myself chances by sticking it to 10 feet or less (from the cup). A couple (putts) didn’t fall, but I stayed patient and most of them did. I got lucky on some shots and I got some breaks and put a good round together.”
While Pinili was staying patient, English had some nervous moments down the stretch.
“On 16 I was trying to go for the green in two to get another birdie and two-putt, but I pulled my 2-iron way left of the green, next to a tree, and I had to take an unplayable lie,” he said. “That really put me on edge. I took a bogey there, and I knew Lorenzo was really close.
“On 17, I was really nervous because I had to sink a 4-footer to save par," he added, "and then I was able to roll in a birdie on 18, and that’s when I knew I had my momentum back.”
That last putt, English said, was bliss.
“It’s a weird feeling. You can’t think about it too much because you don’t want to make a mistake,” he said. “But the last putt is a great feeling. There’s no pressure any more. You make it, or you two-putt. It doesn’t matter.”
For O’Rourke, his last putt was bittersweet.
“It was a sad and happy moment at the same time,” he said. “It was my last high school tournament, but I’m fortunate to take (golf) to the next level and play in college.”
While O’Rourke will play at the University of Dayton next year, the Warriors will have both Pinili and Baer, who was a junior this year, back in 2022.
But this year’s Brother Rice team was talented, deep — and unselfish.
“We have nine guys who averaged 78 or better for 18 holes,” Braisted said. “We were blessed with talent, and we were in a lot of pressure situations. We’re in a strong league, and that experience rubbed off for us today.”
English, who will play golf on scholarship at Drexel University, credited his personal swing coach for keeping him ready through the winter, and his coaches at Pontiac Notre Dame Prep for preparing him mentally during the season.
“Mike Erskine, Kevin Ogg and John Briceland were always pushing me,” he said. “Every practice, they pushed me, giving me the hardest shots to hit against my teammates, and we had some putting contests to put some pressure on me. They didn’t let me stay satisfied. They kept me hungry for more.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice celebrates its Division 2 team championship Saturday at Bedford Valley. (Middle) Flint Powers Catholic’s Robert Burns chips during his second round. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)